ART CORNER: The custom 1:24 models of Luis Aguilar, Part 01

We met Luis Aguilar at a local AE86 owner gathering and immediately had our brains melted by his astounding 1:24 scale plastic models. It wasn’t just his tremendous attention to detail that caught our eye, but his highly accurate adherence to Japanese customizing styles. We’ll let Luis tell you about his cars in his own words. — Ben

I’ve been into models since I was a kid. It’s been an on-and-off hobby, but I’ve always been drawn in by hot rods, lowriders and pretty much anything low. Growing up in LA I was surrounded by it all. Once I hit high school I was introduced to the import side, mainly by the older brothers or uncles of some buddies in old school Corollas going to “street racing” spots in Carson.

Soon after that it was the drift/touge and N2 scenes in Japan, thanks to a video shop in Little Tokyo that made copies of Hot Version, Best Motoring and Option 2 videos. At the same time I also bumped into some hobby stores that sold model kits. It was mainly Gundam kits, but there were a few cars mixed in there from Aoshima and Fujimi. From there it went to where I am now, trying to collect as much auto related items that my wallet allows, anything from books and toys all the way to what real cars I own, an ’85 Corolla GT-S and an ’81 Corolla Wagon.

1970 Toyota Celica 1600GT, kit by Hasegawa. I made the front spoiler using some styrene and two-part epoxy putty from Tamiya. The fender flares were also made with the putty. Paint is Rustoleum olive green. I modded the suspension a bit by making front and rear springs using .030″ aluminum wire. The exhaust was made using some styrene tubing and a muffler from the parts bin. It’s supposed to resemble a Fujitsubo exhaust. SMS carbon decal was used for the hood. The wheels are Aoshima RS-Watanabes with hippari tires.

Nissan Skyline 2000RS, kit by Tamiya. This was meant to be a “quick” project between a friend and me. I went with kyuusha-kai style. Aside from it being lowered on Aoshima SSR MkIII wheels and a twin pipe exhaust, it was kept fairly simple. The paint is Testors “White Lighting” and Tamiya graphite gray. The interior was kept clean with better looking seats from Aoshima’s version of the R30.

Toyota Celica XX, kit by Aoshima. The Celica XX was done zokusha style — multi-color and patterns with a huge scratch-made front spoiler, oil cooler and star-shaped exhaust. The livery is from the Fujitsu-Ten MkIII Group-A Supra. Paints used are from Tamiya. The suspension was modified for a less extreme wheel poke, and the wheels are Aoshima Devil Phantom Spoke on hippari tires.

If it wasn’t for the backgrounds, They could easily pass for the real deals…..(That is not meant as a negative critique.) I would love to see some of your models posed outdoors on a simple diorama with the real world as a background. I’m betting they would pass for real.